Congratulations to Geraldine Brooks, news
correspondent for the Wall Street Journal!
It’s 1988, and the WSJ has just made her their on-the-spot Middle
East reporter. She’ll be based out of
Cairo, Egypt.
Her husband, Tony Horwitz,
will of course be moving there with Geraldine.
He’s a correspondent as well, although a “freelance” one. That means he’s an independent reporter. He writes an article, then shops it around to
various news outlets, and hopefully one of them will buy it.
Freelance reporting is frankly
a tough business to be in; you better be writing something that’s either exciting—like
warfare, for example—or pulls on the heartstrings—like starving Africans.
Bon voyage, Tony! Try not to get blown up or die from disease and/or starvation. And best of luck in
learning how business is conducted in the Middle East. They say it varies from one country to the
next.
What’s To Like...
There are seventeen chapters in Baghdad Without a Map, plus a Prologue and
Epilogue. Each chapter title gives the
country or region to where Tony is heading, and for the most part, he’s
traveling alone.
There’s a fascinating blend of
dangerous trips and human-interest stories.
Sometimes Tony Horwitz is on a boat in the mine-laden Persian Gulf, or
on a ferry dodging bombardments as it approached Beirut. Other times he’s visiting as leper colony or staying
in a city where there is no such thing as electricity.
I especially liked the fact
that most of Tony’s interactions are with everyday people. The viewpoints of working-class Arabs take
precedence over those of political and religious zealots.
The author is American by birth and Jewish by religion. It was enlightening to see how the average
Arab reacts to this when he tells them.
Tony Horwitz is a gifted
writer, and his travelogues are full of interesting tips and tidbits. You’ll learn things like the “three rules of
war reporting”, and why chess was banned in post-Revolution Iran. You’ll also be treated to a number of words and phrases
in Arabic and Dinka, and marvel at the “modern technology” in those days that included messages via telex machines and music via Walkmans and cassettes.
Tony Horwitz and his wife were in the
Middle East for 2+ years, finally leaving when Geraldine got a new job. In the Epilogue, Tony returns to Iraq on the
eve of Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait and experiences its aftermath, Operation Desert
Storm. How’d you like to be a
Jewish-American news correspondent covering Baghdad during that time period?
Ratings…
Amazon:
4.6/5
based on 250 ratings and 73 reviews.
Goodreads: 4.01/5 based on 4,294
ratings and 257 reviews.
Excerpts...
With typical Arab hospitality, he invited me to stay for
lunch. The men were about to dig their
fingers into a communal mound of meat and rice, and they indicated politely
that I should take the first bite.
A southpaw, I
instinctively reached my left hand toward the—
“La! La!” twelve voices cried in unison. No! A
man put his left hand on his backside, reminding me of its proper use. The others laughed. I’d forgotten the first commandment of desert
etiquette, but my hosts seemed good-humored about it. (pg. 53)
I hit on the television to keep me company while I
packed. The English-language news began
as it always did, with a crude Mercator projection of the Middle East and an
off-speed medley of Arab tunes. An
anchorman began reading the AP wire in halting English. There was shelling again in Beirut. Something about hostages in the Bekaa Valley. A new American plan for Middle East
peace. And the Israelis had shot dead
two more Palestinians in Gaza. I
wondered for a moment if Egyptian TV, through oversight or impoverishment, had
simply rebroadcast a tape of the news from two years before. Or five.
Progress in the Middle East was measured in grains of sand. (pg.
364)
In Cairo, littering
was a philanthropic act. (pg.
76)
The cussing in Baghdad Without a Map, is sparse. I counted only 7 instances in the first 50% of the book. Tony notes some regional drug and alcohol usage, including hashish, opium, and some liquor called "araki". Individual drug-&-booze preferences seem to vary from one Middle Eastern country to the next.
In Chapter Two, the author is introduced to Yemen's preferred drug, something called "qat", and some interesting experiences ensue. I'm familiar with the word "qat" because it's one of the few words starting with a "Q" that is allowed in Scrabble.
Baghdad Without a Map was my third Tony Horwitz book, and I've enjoyed each one of them immensely. His writing is both interesting and informative, and his ability to convey the thoughts and feelings of "ordinary people" is phenomenal. I highly recommend his books.
9 Stars. One last thing. You’re probably wondering why Ayatollah Khomeini banned the playing of chess in Iran. The rationale was that it would tempt onlookers to bet on the outcome of the chess game, and gambling is a sin. Sheesh.
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